Positive posting

As many of my posts over the last months have focused on various health problems I just thought I would do a positive update.

I have managed to get to the gym 2 times this week. Admittedly, I am far from what I consider to be my normal standard but at least I CAN do it. Not since November last year I think I have been able enough.

And I can take reasonably long walks! Yohoo! OK I again am very very far from fit but it feels just GREAT to move freely without pains, limping etc.

Boys starting school

School started this week and for Eric it was his first day in Primary school. A VERY excited boy was ready to go nearly 2 hours before it was time to leave home.

I realise that it will not last with this enormous enthusiasm.. but for now it feels good!

Here a photo of him in his uniform outside Lusitania school where they both learn:

A wedding and other news

It has again been a long time. Seems this is becoming more of a monthly habit than anything "daily". Well the excuse is travelling and more travelling.

Because of business travel I missed the wedding of Mia's brother Anjos and his (now) wife Dadirayi that took place in Bulawayo. Here some photos.

Otherwise the "drama" was that I managed to secretly buy Mia a new phone in Sweden, a SonyEricsson W300i, and with the aid of 2 persons get it first to Zambia and then Zimbabwe. Thanks Marie and Lloyd for the help! Someone damn near collapsed when I pulled it out. Problem is I like it way too much so regret I did not buy 2.. not that I want the walkman stuff but I really like how it is put together and works. AND it is already off the market, they pump out new models so fast that by the time I decide what I want you can no longer by it... the Z530i is a good example.

Zim is weirder than ever. The shops are very near empty and everything "normal" is either queued for or bought "informal". I came home with Mazoe drink (locally made and very popular) - from Lusaka. Nowhere to be found in Zim. Also from Malawi I brought mealie-meal - zim made... the whole shop was full of Zim pastors shopping frantically! The other day I witnessed a near fight in a shop. Over youghurt. Now if that aint depressing I don't know what is.

Gotta rush, it is Friday and I want to take early day since I fly early Sunday to Lilongwe.

Just an update

It has been over a month since anything was written on this blog. There are reasons for that, I have been travelling extensively and spent time both in Mozambique and Zambia. We are all OK though a bad bout of flu hit me, Eric and Mia. It hit a lot of people actually. August has been unusually cold (still cold nights and mornings) and maybe that has something to do with it.

Otherwise we now live in the country of empty shops. There is nearly nothing to be found in the shops apart from cheese, some polony/ham and such products. Forget bread, milk, flour, meat, sugar, cooking oil, drinks, washing powder, most tinned products and so on. The reason for this being price controls - once more. Unrealistic allowed prices coupled with now officially over 7000% inflation have caused a situation where near everything is traded outside the normal system. Let's just say it makes life interesting but rather tiring.

On top of that we had "plumbers" at home. They did one thing right - they cleaned out our hotwater-geyser that had stopped working. Otherwise they managed to create a large hole in the ceiling and reconnect the geyser basically backwards. We have since fixed a new ceiling (about time but even so...) and had a proper plumber reconnect the geyser. To add to that one of our cars is almost constantly parked at the workshop and this makes moving around a problem. Get a lot of cycling exercise lately.

Some photos from home, nothing sensational: Homephotos

Have had my first experiences of Microsoft Windows Vista in some different scenarios and am less than impressed. I am far from the only one, the editor of PC Magazine have given up and gone back to Windows XP and is considering switching to Linux: pcmag

I am increasingly happy with my switch to Kubuntu - no viruses, no intrusions, no spyware. And increasingly tired of "normal" users tendency to hit "OK" whether they have any idea of why or not.

Finally some photos from my youngest brother David's wedding and a link to Anna Tibblin's blogg about Zimbabwe (in Swedish)